I Need You
by iimpulsive
Summary: The fight to get together has been won, but will James and Lily be able to stay together through what’s happening now? Lord Voldemort and his followers and getting ever stronger. But love conquers everything…right? Sequel to I Want You.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own next to nothing.

Author's Note: I'm back. Didn't take that long, did it? I thought for sure that my chapter notes were going to take much longer to write up, but the ideas came easier than I expected, so, I figured I'd start the sequel ahead of schedule. That's not a problem is it? Hope not.  
Anyway, I wanted to say thanks for all the reviews and faves and alerts my last story got. Let's hope this one is just as successful as the first.  
Right. On to the first chapter of I Need You. Enjoy!

Chapter 1: A year of changes.

A year had passed, and a year's worth of things had changed. People were still living their lives, trying their best to live them the same way they had done before, but things were different now. There was an air of fear that hung over most places, inspired by a new attack, or another death. Death Eaters, the name they had given themselves, were behind the attacks, but behind them was the source of the mayhem, the catastrophe; Lord Voldemort was the main source of the fear. He had built up an army, and he had made it clear that the Mudbloods of the wizarding world were no longer safe. As a matter of fact, even the purebloods that associated with muggleborns were in danger. _Everyone_ was in danger.

"Did you hear about the attack on the Wilkensens?" Gregory Potter asked his wife over dinner, a steaming plate on the table in front of him.

"Please, dear," Priscilla replied, eyes darting between her husband and her son, who sat at her side. "Not at dinner."

He followed her eyes as they flickered back and forth and nodded. "Right, of course." And with that he dropped the subject and they resumed their eating in awkward silence.

"Dinner's great, mum." James said, steering towards a more pleasant conversation.

"It really is, Mrs. Potter." Lily agreed, sitting across from James. She smiled at the older woman in thanks.

"You're very kind." She said, eyes crinkling as she smiled.

James rose from the table with his empty place, and kissed the top of his mother's head as he passed her. He leaned over Lily and took her plate as well, dropping them lightly in the sink.

"Want to come for a walk?" James asked, grinning at Lily as he leaned back against the counter.

"Sure." Lily nodded, and she rose from her seat as well. "Thanks again for dinner."

"Anytime, Lily. You're welcome back whenever you'd like, you know that." Mr. Potter said, watching the two of them leave the kitchen.

Lily grabbed her coat off the rack in the hallway and shrugged into it, simultaneously slipping her feet into her sandals. James held the door open for her, and together they stepped outside. He took her hand tightly in his the second they stepped off his lawn.

The sun was just setting, so the sky was still bright. The blue of it had gone people, though, mixing with the reddish hues of the sun. The residents of the neighbourhood were already in their homes, finishing their dinners just as James and Lily had done, or else getting ready to snuggle into bed after another long day.

"Your dad's worried." Lily sighed as they walked down the street.

James squeezed her hand. "Isn't everyone?" he said.

"They have a right to be." Lily agreed. "There's another attack everyday."

James sighed and ran his free hand through his hair. "Let's talk about something else, okay? Something that's not so…gloomy."

Lily smiled up at him. "Okay, then." She said, swinging their hands back and forth. "What do you want to talk about?"

"Hmm," James grinned. "We could talk about how pretty you look today. And every other day." He watched as Lily rolled her eyes. "It's true!" he added with a laugh.

"That's your opinion."

"Yes, it is. And it's true." He repeated. He pulled on her hand so that she was against his side, and he kissed the side of her head.

A year had passed, and that simple action alone made his heart swell, his stomach turn over. Just the fact that he could do it whenever he liked, kiss her and hold her whenever he pleased, it made him feel happier than he had ever felt.

"Something else." Lily said, shoving him lightly with her hip.

"Something else…" James said, thinking. "Well, we have work tomorrow."  
Lily groaned.

"Oh, it's not that bad…" he said.

"Easy for you to say. You're passing every test with flying colours." She sighed.

"Flying colours?" James quirked an eyebrow at the unfamiliar expression.

"Easily. You're passing easily."

"Oh," he said, nodding. "Well, maybe, but you're doing just fine, too."

"Just fine, though. I'm not great."

"You _are_ great. You'll pass them with flying colours, too." He told her, smiling as his use of her saying. "They'd be stupid not to pass you. You'd make a great auror."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome." He paused, then added, "Are you apparating home tonight?"

Lily nodded. "Yep." She glanced at her watch. "And I should be leaving soon."

James shook his head. "No way. It feels like you just got here."

Lily laughed.

He happened to look away from her – something he didn't do very often, or for very long – and he spotted a playground across the road. He grinned and dragged her off towards it.

"What on earth are you doing, you madman?" Lily giggled.

"Come and swing with me." He replied.

"What, are you four years old?" she asked.

"Yeah, I am," he said, letting go of her hand and hopping onto one of the swings. He began to kick his feet, began to move. "Four plus fourteen." He smiled, going higher and higher.

Lily walked around him to the swing at his side and sat down on it. Within moments, she was flying alongside him, going back when he swung forward, forward when he swung back.

"See," he laughed. "This was a good idea."

"Alright, Mr. Potter." Lily laughed too. "I'll give you that. It was a good idea."

"Thank you, Miss Evans." He said, and he leapt off his swing as it swung forward. He flew more than he fell, but when he landed, he collapsed onto the grass, staring up at the sky.

Lily dragged her feet in the sand under the swings and came to a stop. She got off the swing and joined him, lying on the ground next to him. He instantly rolled over, draping one arm over her middle with his head turned towards her. She was staring up at the sky, which had turned dark blue sometime during their walk, where stars glittered in clusters.

Lying there, he could make out all the details of her face. The way her pretty eyelashes brushed against her cheeks when she looked down, and against the spot just under her eyebrows when she looked up. He noticed, again, the light freckles on her cheeks and on the end of her nose, and how they made her look younger than eighteen. Younger, but not by much.

He was so focused on every little detail of her, that he didn't notice at first when she turned her head to look at him.

"What are you staring at?" she asked, biting her lip.

"You." He replied unblushingly, smiling at her.

She smiled shyly and looked back up at the sky. "Did you make a wish?" she asked, glancing at him for a second.

"No. Should I have made one?" he asked, quirking a curious eyebrow at her.

"Yes, you should have." She said, and she giggled. "On the stars, silly."

"Oh, right." He looked up with her, but then his eyes narrowed. "I don't want what to wish for." He said after a moment.

"Well," Lily said, rolling so that she was facing him. "What do you want? Wish for what you want most in the entire world."

James thought for a moment, his eyes locked on hers. "What if I've already got what I want most in the entire world?" he asked.

Lily laughed. "Then I don't know." She said. A content silence crept up on them for a few minutes, but Lily broke it after a while. "What is it?" she asked, then clarified. "The thing you want most, and already have? What is it?"

James propped himself up on his elbow, and adjusted his glasses that were sliding down his nose. "It's not really an 'it', it's more of a 'who'." He told her.

"Oh?" she said, smiling now. "_Who_ is it, then?"

He leaned closer to her, face nearing hers. He took another moment to admire how perfect she looked, before he closed the little space between them and kissed her, softly, like he was kissing an angel.

"I'll give you one guess." He told her when he pulled away.

"Hmm," Lily smiled. "And what happens if I guess it wrong?"

She watched him laugh, thinking that that was one of her favourite things in the world: seeing him laugh, or even smile. Just the crookedness of his grin, or the way his eyes glittering behind his glasses when he laughed made her feel warm.

"I'm not sure," he said. "But I don't think you'll get it wrong. Rumour has it you're pretty smart."

"I like to think so."  
"Then guess." He told her, shrugged.

Lily pretended to think, wrinkling her nose in mock confusion. "I don't know."

"Do I have to give you another hint?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

"I think I'd like that."

More than happy to oblige, he leaned forward and kissed her again, the hand that wasn't supporting his head resting gently on the back of her neck, yet still holding her tightly.

"I think I have an answer." She said, her breath tickling his face.

"And?"

"Me." She smiled.

James laughed. "Wow, I guess the rumours are right. You _are_ smart!"

"Thank you."

"You're welcome." He lightly kissed the end of her nose.

Lily glanced down at the watch that glittered on her wrist.

"You have to go." James guessed, making a face.

"I have to go." Lily echoed sadly.

James sighed and got to his feet. He reached both his hands down to help Lily to her feet, and watched as she dusted sand and grass off herself.

"I'll see you tomorrow?" James asked.

"We have work, remember?" Lily smiled. "Yes, you'll see me tomorrow."

"Good." James grinned. "Goodnight Lily Billy. I love you."

Lily stretched up on her toes and kissed him once. "I love you too."

She stepped away from him and smiled, then with a loud crack, she was gone.

--

As quietly as she could, Lily turned the handle of her front door and crept inside her home. She hung up her coat, kicked off her sandals and began to creep stealthily towards the staircase.

"Lily?"

She turned, surprised, at the sound of her name. She spotted her father in the armchair of their sitting room. He looked as though he had been asleep in it just moments ago.

"Hey, dad." She smiled. "I didn't mean to wake you. Sorry."

"No, no," he said, smiling back and getting slowly to his feet with a groan. "Nothing to worry about. It's a good thing you did. Sleeping in that chair, well, my back would have been awful tomorrow morning."

Lily nodded.

"Did you have a nice night?" Mr. Evans asked, putting his arm around Lily's shoulders as they walked towards the stairs.

"Yeah, I did." She grinned.

"I'm glad to hear it." He said as they reached the top of the stairs, and were about to go their separate ways.

Lily kissed her father's creased cheek. "Goodnight, dad." She said.

"Bon soir, ma fleur." He replied, and he disappeared into his and his wife's bedroom.

Lily stepped into her own, quickly slipped into a too-big tee-shirt and climbed into beg, burying herself under her quilt. She turned to one side and closed her eyes, slipping into dreams about shooting stars and hazel eyes.

Author's Note: So, there we have it. The first chapter of my new story. Hope you liked it.  
Read, and review; let me know what you think.

With love, Cait.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I own next to nothing.

Author's Note: Was the first chapter a success, then? I was rather fond of it, anyway. Thanks for the reviews and favourites and alerts that the story has already. One chapter and my stats have all gone up. It makes me happy.

Anyway, here's chapter two. I'm probably going to be uploading quite a bit for a while, seeing as I'm under house arrest. That's a good thing for the readers, though, right? Right.

Chapter 2: A day at work.

"Tell me again why we're not just _apparating_ to the ministry?" Victoria asked as she dodged another stranger. She and Lily made their way up the stairs from the underground train.

"Because I'm muggle born," Lily said, brushing hair out of her face. "I was raised by muggles and I'm used to this."

Victoria paused for a moment. "Okay," she said, standing with her hand on her hip, "Just tell me why _I'm_ not apparating?"

Lily laughed and turned away from her, walking towards the out-of-order phone booth, or, to those in the know, the entrance to the Ministry of Magic. The sight of Victoria there, with her hip cocked to one side, made Lily smile. It was just one sign of how little she had changed over the year that had passed. Her dark blond hair had been dyed brown, and she had the usual stud in her nose was replaced with a silver ring, but those were only changes on the outside. On the inside, Victoria was the same old fun-loving kid that she always had been and probably always will be.

"You're doing it because you love me." She said as she stepped inside, holding the door back for her friend.

"Oh, yeah." Victoria made a face and they squeezed into the little box.She bent her arm around Lily to twirl the numbers to the right spots, and like an elevator, the phone booth disappeared underground. After but a moment, Lily and Victoria were standing in the ministry, amidst the crowds of hurrying employees.

One of these employees, steaming mug of coffee in one hand and a high stack of folders in the other, was familiar.

"Morning, Remus." Victoria smiled, and she hurried forward to take half of the tipping reports.

He sighed in relief. "I was either going to end up drenched in hot coffee, or drop all the reports that took me an hour to put in order," he said, smiling gratefully. Though he looked a bit ragged with patches in his robes and his plain brown hair, no one ever noticed when he smiled.  
"Good morning, Victoria, Lily." He then said.

Together, the three of them set off towards level two, where the Auror headquarters were located.

"Late." A voice barked at them as soon as they got off the elevator. Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody was standing there with his arms folded, one eye narrowed at them, his other rolling around madly.

Lily opened her mouth to apologize, but Victoria cut across her. "Almost late," she corrected him, staring down at her watch. She peered up at him, to see his frown deepen, and simply smiled as she brushed past him to her cubicle.

Remus followed her, his shoulders shaking with silent laughter.

"I hear this is your last test today, Evans," Moody said as Lily followed him down another hall.

She nodded.

"You'll do fine," he said. He stopped in front of a sturdy-looking door and opened it with a key. "Just do what they say, and you'll be an auror by the end of next week. Screw it up, though, and you'll be an assistant for the rest of your life."

And with those words, he turned and left, leaving Lily with even more unease in the pit of her stomach. She walked into the room and saw two aurors sitting at a long table. They smiled up at her when she entered, but Lily was too nervous to return the smile.

--

Two hours later, Lily re-emerged from the room, wand in hand. She closed the door behind her as she stepped into the hallway. Turning to walk back towards where she had come his morning, she found her path was blocked though. Lily jumped at the sight of some one standing there, leaning back against the wall.

"Merlin, James," she said, taking a deep breath. "You scared me!"

He laughed and she reached him, and took her hand. "Sorry."

"It's fine," she told him. "Just…don't hover outside doors anymore, okay? Or at least say something when I come out, so I know you're there."

He rubbed his fingers over hers. "Deal." He said, and smiled. "I'm meeting Sirius for lunch in about twenty minutes," he added. "Did you want to come?"

She thought for a moment. "Sure." She said after thinking, "Why not?"

"I can think of a thousand reasons why you wouldn't want to meet Sirius for lunch." He laughed.

Lily nudged him with her hip.

The sun was putting up a fight, struggling to shine through the clouds. It seemed to be in the lead, for it was fairly bright as they apparated outside a quaint little restaurant. James pulled the door open and held it open with one hand, his other on the small of Lily's back as he followed her inside.

They found Sirius at the back of the restaurant, chatting with a pretty waitress, nursing a cigarette between two fingers of his right hand. He looked just the same as he always had, just as handsome as he had always been. His dark, floppy hair fell into his equally dark eyes with a casual elegance that only he could achieve. He was tall and slim, and leaning back in his seat with his arm draped over the back of it. He grinned as they approached and sat down on the bench across from him. The waitress quickly took their drink orders and left. Wasting no time, Lily reached across the table and yanked the cigarette away from him, ignoring his protests and putting it out in the ashtray on the table.

Sirius glared at Lily before turning to James. "Can you tell her _not_ to do that, please?"

James just shrugged, but Lily spoke for herself.

"It's a disgusting habit." She told him, unabashed. She folded her arms on the table.

"So is biting your nails." Sirius pointed out, eyeing her short, jagged fingernails.

"I'm not going to get sick and die because I'm biting my nails, Sirius." Lily argued, but the quarrel was cut short as the waitress returned with their drinks.

"Thank God." James muttered under his breath.

She took their orders and turned to leave again, but not before flashing a smile at Sirius that was a bit warmer than necessary. He was too quick to return it.

"How did the test go, Lil?" James asked quickly after she left, to keep them from resuming their fight.

"Okay, I guess." She shrugged. "I don't think I screwed it up too badly."

"Stop listening to Moody." Sirius laughed. "He just likes making people nervous."

"He's good at it."

"Maybe," Sirius qualified, before changing the subject. "So, have you two lovebirds talked anymore about your residential decision?"

James and Lily exchanged looks. "Some," James shrugged. "But we still haven't gotten anywhere."

"There's a nice little flat not too far from James' house," Lily said. "But we don't want to make anything final until we talk to our parents first."

"And we're kind of putting that off." James added.

"But it's a definite thing, now?" Sirius asked, raising his eyebrows. "You two are definitely moving in together?"

"That's the plan." James smiled.

"Scary." Sirius laughed.

There was a pause as the waitress came back with their lunches and set them down at their appropriate places. Lily noticed that there was an extra slip of white paper under Sirius' plate, and that the waitress walked off again with an extra sway. Sirius lifted his plate and unfolded the note, grinned and stuffed it into the pocket of his jeans.

"What's scary?" James asked, who either hadn't noticed the excessive flirting, or was far too used to it to really care.

"You don't remember the time, oh, two years ago, when Lily hated your guts, and you made an arse of yourself trying to win her over?" Sirius grinned. "And now you're sitting there talking about moving in together. It's scary."

James grinned at the memory, and at how things had turned out (definitely in his favour).

Aside from Sirius' jabs about how Lily needed to eat more than a salad, the meal passed well. They finished their lunches and paid the tab and rose to their feet as one to leave. Once they were outside, they began to walk down the street, instead of apparating back to the ministry.

Lily glared at Sirius as he pulled another cigarette out from a case in his pocket and lit it.

"Don't even think about it." Sirius said, eyeing Lily warily as he breathed smoke out his mouth.

James squeezed Lily's hand as she opened her mouth to argue. "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all." He told her quietly.

"You're okay with this?" With her free hand, she gestured to the grinning Sirius at her other side.

"His choice." James shrugged with a smile.

Sirius laughed. "And that is why he's my best friend, and you're just the annoying little red-haired girl that likes to get on my case about every little thing." He said.

"Thanks, Sirius." Lily said, rolling her eyes.

"You know I'm kidding, Lily Billy." He said, peace-making "You're like the little sister I never had, or wanted…" He laughed as he dodged the punch she had aimed at his arm.

--

The day was almost over. Outside, the sun was setting slowly behind the clouds. People around her were already packing up at heading home, but Lily still sat at her desk, organizing the aurors' files. She was gripping her hair in one hand, tapping the quill that she held in the other hand against the side of her desk.

"Really hard to concentrate when you're doing that, you know." A voice said from behind her, and she looked up, turning to face the source.

Anna was there, grinning down at her, with Victoria at her side, popping her bubble gum loudly. Dark curls tumbled to her waist, and her lips were painted cherry red. Her skin was still as fair as it always was, and the tiny girl hadn't even grown a inch.

"Ready to get out of here, Lily?" she asked, leaning over Lily's shoulder.

"Almost." She said, narrowing her eyes as they flickered back to her work. "I just have this one report to look over, and then I should be done."

"You work pretty hard for an assistant, Lil." Victoria told her. "The rest of them just hang around doing nothing. They don't 'assist' very well. I asked one of them to get me a cup of coffee and she completely ignored me."

"I agree," Anna smiled. "They're too busy raiding Sirius' desk whenever he leaves it to actually do what they're supposed to be doing."

Lily looked up suddenly. "Is that were his stuff keeps going?" she asked with a smile. "He was saying that he's already lost three good quills, two notebooks and a picture off his desk."

Anna nodded, then laughed. "Some things never change."

It was quiet, then, as the other two let Lily finish her work. After a few minutes, she sighed and closed the folder. "Done." She announced. She got to her feet and gathered all the files, crossing the room to the cabinet where she put them in their rightful places. She grabbed her coat, the last one on the rack, and smiled at her friends.

"Let's go." She said, and the three of them linked arms. "Are we meeting Lou at her house?"

"Yep." Victoria nodded. "She's probably already home. She only lives about a block away from St. Mungo's."

"I can't stay too late." Lily said.

"You can never stay out too late."

Lily rolled her eyes.

"Think Lou has ice cream in her freezer?" Anna asked.

Lily grinned. "Lou _always_ has ice cream in her freezer."

Author's Note: So, this chapter was pretty laid back. Nothing too important happened. Actually, nothing important happened, except that I reintroduced all the other characters, which I _guess_ qualifies as important. But anyway. I wasn't sure if Moody was their 'supervisor' or whatever, but it's my story, so I say he was. I hope you liked it.

As always, please read and review, and thanks for the ones I've already got.

-Cait.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I own next to nothing.

Author's Note: I finished the last chapter, and started on this one right away after. Needless to say, my wrist is KILLING me. But that's okay, because I realized how much I actually miss writing. It's a sacrifice I'm willing to make.

Chapter 3: A visit.

A week had passed slowly. Every morning, James would wake up early and apparate to work. And every evening, he would leave late and apparate home. All the aurors were staying late, nowadays, with all the attacks that were still happening. There were many fights, and there was even more paperwork that had to be filled out.

But luckily, it was the weekend, and he had the two days off.

When he woke up that Saturday and rolled over in his bed to face the clock, the hands pointed to a very blurry ten o'clock. James threw off his blankets and sat up in his bed, feet hanging barely an inch off the ground. Blindly, he reached around his bedside table for his glasses and when his fingers closed around them, he slid them on to his face. Instantly, everything became clearer. The dark blue on his walls, and now he could make out all the pictures and bric-a-brac that hung there: Gryffindor banners and flags, posters of his favourite quidditch teams along with other random clippings and trimmings. On the table, where he had found his glasses, sat three pictures. One was of himself, with an older woman whose light hair hung wispily around her face and an older looking man with an untidy hair and glasses. He and his parents were perched on the couch in their sitting room, grinning and laughing up at the camera. Another picture was of Sirius, Remus, Peter and himself, laughing and kidding around in front of the main doors at school. The last was of him and Lily. The two of them were sitting under a large tree, she leaning against his side with a book in her hands, and he just smiling down at her.

The photographs made him smile as he got to his feet and stretched his arms far over his head, arching his back. He made for the bathroom down the hall, and spent twenty minutes in it, showering and brushing his teeth, before he trotted back into his room and got dressed.

By the time he got downstairs and walked into the kitchen, his parents had already finished breakfast and his mother was by the sink, waving her wand so that the dishes cleaned themselves. His father was staring intently at the newspaper spread across the table in front of him, his brow furrowed. He hadn't even looked up upon his entrance.  
His mother started slightly as he kissed her withered cheek.

"Heavens, James," she said, exhaling deeply. "You're going to give me a heart attack one day."

"Sorry." He grinned apologetically as he opened the fridge.

"I thought you'd be asleep for a while," she told him, leaning back against the counter and watching her son. "Otherwise I'd have kept some breakfast on the table for you. I can still make something now. Are you hungry?"

James shook his head as he re-emerged from the bottom of the refrigerator with an apple in his hand. "No, no." he told her. "I'm fine. Thanks."

"An apple?" Mrs. Potter raised her eyebrows. "You're going to wither away one day, young man. You're much too thin."

"Mum, really." He smiled. "I'm fine."

"Where are you off to today?" she asked.

"I was thinking of going to Lily's for a while, and then see what happens." He shrugged.

"She hasn't been around for dinner lately." Mr. Potter said, finally speaking from his seat at the table.

James looked round and saw that he had abandoned the Prophet. He laughed. "It's only been a week, dad." He said. "And she's been busy."

His father nodded and ran a hand through his messy, greying hair. "Well, you're mother and I are going over to your Aunt Persia's for lunch. You can reach us there if you need anything."

"Right." James clapped his father on the shoulder and smiled at his mother before he walked out of the kitchen. "I'll see you later." He called from the hallway as he slipped his feet into his trainers. He grabbed his coat and with a loud pop, he disapparated from the front hall.

--

"Lily, doorbell."

Her mother's voice carried up the stairs easily, and through Lily's open door, into her room. It took her a moment to actually get to her feet and hurry down the stairs, but she was at the door fairly quickly, pulling it open.

She grinned at the sight of James standing there, smiling down at her. Without a word, he leaned down and kissed her lightly, quickly.

"Hi." She said breathlessly, inviting him in.

"Hi." He replied, laughter in his voice.

Virginia Evans came out from the kitchen, drying her hands with a towel. "Hello, James," she smiled sweetly, eyes crinkling. "Nice to see you."

"Nice to see you, too, Mrs. Evans." He grinned back.

She was still smiling when she turned back into the kitchen.

"Did you know there's an owl floating around outside your window?" James asked of Lily when her mother was gone.

"Outside my window?" Lily made a face. "No, I didn't notice."

She turned back up the stairs and returned to her room, James trailing behind her. She crossed her room straight to her window, where, sure enough, an owl was hovering just outside of it. Lily flung the window open and the owl flew in, dropping the roll of parchment on her bed and flying back out.

James picked it up and handed it to her. "Wonder what it is…" he said, sitting on her bed.

She sat down next to him. Her fingers fumbled with the tie around it, but within a moment, it was open and her eyes were already halfway through the page. Then, with a squeal, she leapt up from the bed and hopped in a circle, still squealing and laughing with delight.

"What is it?" James was laughing too. It was impossible to watch her jumping and waving her arms happily, and not feel happy along with her.

"From the ministry. I passed all my tests!" She said, beaming.

His smiled widened. "I told you you would."

"What's with all the noise?" Her father was standing in the doorway, leaning against the doorframe with his arms folded.

"I passed all my aptitude tests. I'm an auror." Lily said.

Her father grinned, making him look twenty years younger. "That's great, Lily!" he laughed. "Did you tell your mother, yet?"

She shook her head as she dashed out of the room and leapt down the stairs. They could hear both women shrieking with glee from downstairs. A moment later, Lily was back, entering her room again as her father was leaving it. He kissed the top of his daughter's head as she squeezed past him.

"We're proud of you, Lily." He said, and disappeared downstairs.  
She took a deep breath once he was gone, still clinging to the letter. James grinned at her.

"Congratulations." He said. He took two steps toward her and wrapped his arms around her waist. Lightly, he kissed the end of her nose.

She smiled up at him. "Thank you." She said, hands trailing up his chest and around his neck.

"What do you say we celebrate?" he asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

Her eyebrows rose in curiosity. "How?"

"We'll throw a party." He chuckled. "Just our close friends. And we'll do it at Sirius' place, so we don't have to clean up after it." He winked.

Lily laughed. "Sounds like a plan." She stretched up on the tips of her toes and pressed her mouth to hers briefly, pulling back after just a second.

"I'll go tell everyone else." He said, bending to her level, now, to kiss her back. "Apparate over to Sirius' at around…five o'clock. Everything should be ready by then." And without giving Lily another chance to speak, he caught her lips again before taking three steps back and disapparating with a loud sound.

She rolled her eyes and collapsed backwards on her bed, still grinning like a maniac.

--

Three hours passed quicker than she could have imagined. Before she knew it, five o'clock rolled around, and she was getting ready to leave her house. From her bedroom, where she had just been brushing her hair, she galloped down the stairs and into her sitting room. Her mother was sitting there in a rocking chair, a heavy looking book open in her lap. Her wiry glasses were sliding down her nose. She looked up as Lily stopped in the hallway.

"Where are you off to in such a hurry?" she asked with a smile, removing her spectacles and gazing up at her daughter.

"James decided to through a congratulations party at Sirius' place. It's just going to be us and a few friends. That okay?" Lily put on her shoes as she spoke.

"That's fine." Her mother said. She put her glasses on again and looked back down at her book. "Have fun, dear."

"Thanks mum. I'll be home later." And from the front hall of their home, Lily disapparated.

In a second or two, Lily appeared out of thing air, and was standing on the front lawn of Sirius' home: a small cottage with purple shutters on either side of each of his windows. A rickety beige fence went all the way around the house, and Lily, who could hear voices coming from the back, walked over to the gate and pushed it open.

"Congratulations Lily!" rang out as soon as she entered the backyard and she smiled.

"How come no one else had their own party when they became an auror?" she laughed, as Anna hurried forward and flung her arms around her.

"Because we don't all have boyfriends like you've got," Anna giggled.  
Lily smiled.

"Hungry?" Victoria asked.

"Very."

"Good. Because James got enough food for a hundred people."

"You're forgetting that Sirius is here. He eats enough food for about ninety people, so we should be good." Lily laughed, as Sirius himself bounded over to her with, predictably, a sandwich in one hand.

"Congratulations Lily Billy." He said, kissing her once on the cheek.

"Thank you, Sirius." She smiled back. "Are you already halfway through the entire meal?"

He smirked. "I wouldn't say _half_way. Maybe a quarter, though. Don't worry, I've left enough for you, Lil'."

"Gee, thanks."

Together, they made their way towards a long picnic table, the top of which was littered with different kinds of food. She noticed that there was a banner wrapped around one of the apple trees, the words 'Congrats Lily Billy' written in green across it.

Lily sat down between Remus and James as Sirius made his way around the table and perched himself next to Victoria across from her. She felt James' arm wind around her waist as soon as she sat down, and his lips against her temple.

"Thank you." She said quietly, smiling at him.

"Anytime."

The eight friends sat around the picnic table, piling food onto their paper plates, filling their goblets with punch that, thanks to Sirius, was leaving them tingling, and chatting and laughing. Lily, finished eating, sat back and watched her friends in action. Peter and Louise were falling over onto the table laughing with all their might at some story Remus was telling. Victoria and Sirius seemed to be having their own conversation, and Lily watched as Sirius lit up another cigarette and smirked in her direction, knowing he was too far away for her to snatch it from him this time. James and Anna were talking about quidditch, a conversation that Lily had too much difficulty following. It didn't really matter, anyway. She was content just leaning forward with her elbow on the wooden table with James' arm still around her, his thumb rubbing circles on the small of her back, smiling as she glanced around at her happy friends.

But the happiness was soon interrupted. She watched as Sirius looked up from his conversation with Victoria at the sound of the gate opening, and she watched the cigarette fall out of his hand. She watched as everyone's head turned in the same direction, and then she herself turned. Three men had walked into the backyard, two that looked completely unfamiliar.

"We thought we heard that the mudblood was finally made an auror." The one in the front said with a sly smile. "We're looking forward to fighting against you one day. And watching you lose." He added, tipping an invisible glass in a toast towards her.

She felt James' hand leave her waist, felt him rise to his feet and pull his wand out of his pocket. She clung to his hand to keep him at her side, but there was nothing she could do to keep Sirius in his seat. He had gotten up and walked around the table, towards the three men. His wand was drawn.

"Get out of here." He hissed through closed teeth. He was holding his wand so tightly that his knuckles shone white.

The man in front laughed. "What's the matter, Sirius?" he asked, shaking his head. "You don't look very happy to see me."

"That's because I'm not." He replied icily. Lily watched his eyes narrow dangerously as he stared into the pale, thin face of his younger brother.

Author's Note: So, the last chapter was pretty uneventful, but you can't say that this one is, too. There's a bit of action in this one, anyway, and I kind of like chapter three. It took me long enough to get it right. (

I hope you like it to.  
As always, please read and review. And as always, thanks.

-Cait.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I own next to nothing.

Author's Note: I guess I meant what I said about updating a lot more now because I'm grounded. I pretty much have nothing else to do but write, so, here's chapter four already. That's not a bad thing, is it? Ha-ha. I hope not.

Chapter 4:

An odd feeling had descended over the group. James, Remus and Peter had all gotten to their feet at some point after the three had arrived, ready to defend their friend if necessary, or to hold him back if that were the case. Lily still held tightly to James' hand, unwilling to let him go, though she sensed he wanted to join his best friend. Her fingers twitched with the desire to keep him here, and to let him do what he thought was right. In the end she let him go, but stood up after him. Victoria was half raised from her seat, leaning forward onto the table with one hand, the other hovering over her back pocket where she kept her wand. Anna and Louise exchanged looks before standing with the rest of them.

The fact that they were outnumbered didn't seem to bother them, or they simply hadn't noticed.

"That's not a very nice thing to say to your brother, Sirius." Regulus Black sneered, fingering his wand.

"You don't deserve anything nice." Sirius shot back. "Get out of here. No one here wants you around."

"I don't really think we want to leave." Regulus said, and the other two men behind him snickered and took a step forward.

"You'd better leave if you know what's good for you." James said, taking a step forward as well so he was in line with Sirius.

Remus followed his lead, then Peter, though he looked somewhat reluctant. "You're outnumbered, if you hadn't noticed. Eight to three; the odds aren't good that you're going to walk away if you stick around." James pointed out. He nodded his head toward the gate. "Leave. Now."

Regulus laughed, a colder version of the barking laugh that the brothers shared. Where Sirius' was warm and friendly, his was icy and the effect chilling. "But we came to celebrate." He said, grinning. "We like checking out who the new aurors are, to see who we're dealing with. The Dark Lord likes knowing what we're up against. Though I expect he'll be disappointed when he finds out they let another good for nothing mudblood join their group." He laughed. "He'll be disappointed, but the rest of us will be pleased. It just makes it easier for us to pick them off, when they come looking for us, right Evans?"

Before anyone else knew what was happening, Sirius had pulled his arm back, forgetting his wand, and punched his brother in the face. Blood gushed from a nose that was surely broken, and Regulus lifted a pale hand to try and stop it. The two nameless men that had stood behind him took a step forward and both James and Remus moved up to met them, firmly shoving them backward. The goons pulled out their wands, but they were too slow. Remus and James already had theirs out and pointed right at their chests.  
Behind them, Regulus was still laughing. "You're still exactly the same, my brother," he said, spitting a mouthful of blood out at his feet. "Still sticking up for the scum the rest of us are trying to wipe out."

Sirius shoved him again, as hard as he could, so he went flying backwards before he had even straightened completely. "You know," he said, spitting at his brother's face. "You haven't changed much either. In fact, you're still _exactly_ the same worthless piece of shit that you've always been, and you've still got your priorities way wrong. _You're_ exactly the kind of scum we should be eliminating. Lily's a hundred times a better witch than you are a wizard, if you can call yourself that, and so are the rest of the muggleborns that you're calling scum. Now get the hell off my lawn."

Regulus staggered to his feet as his companions turned quickly for the gate, backing away from James and Remus and their ready wands. He took a moment to glare at his brother, before Regulus turned and followed them out.  
"You'll regret that. Every single one of you," he called over his shoulder "You're going to regret this."

They could hear them disapparate with three loud cracks.

Nobody wanted to be the first one to speak. All eyes were on Sirius, who seemed to be taking deep breaths, trying to calm himself. His shoulders shook, and he hadn't taken his eyes off the gate, where his brother had just disappeared.

Victoria was the first to move. She stepped around the table, making, it seemed, as little noise as possible. She walked over to Sirius and laid her hand on his shoulder. It seemed to calm him down a bit; his breathing became less laboured.

"Sorry." He said, so quietly that they could barely hear him, could barely be sure that that was even what he had said.

James was at his side in a minute. "There's nothing to be sorry about," he said. "None of us knew they were going to show up."

Sirius just nodded.

"It was far from your fault." Lily added vehemently.

"It's no one's fault but their own that they're disgusting excuses for human beings. They deserved what they got." Victoria said, then added, "And more."

Sirius' lips twitched, and then, with a deep breath, he seemed to go back to normal. He gave a nervous laugh. "Guess this party is pretty much over, huh?"

Remus smiled back. "Guess so. But it was pretty good while it lasted." He clapped his friend on the back. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Sirius nodded.

"Thanks for everything, Sirius." Anna said, while Louise nodded in agreement. They followed Remus to the gate. Lily watched them leave, but James seemed to be watching Sirius intently.

"You going to be alright, mate?" he asked, eyeing Sirius' expression.

He smiled. "Of course I am."  
James nodded. "I'll talk to you later, then." They bumped fists and James turned to leave, one hand held out as he waited for Lily.

She hesitated for a moment, but finally reached out and squeezed Sirius' hand and kissed his cheek. "Thank you, Sirius." She told him with a small smile, and she twisted to take James' hand and let him lead her out of the yard, leaving Sirius with Victoria.

"Are you sure he's okay alone?" Lily asked, glancing over her shoulder and they closed the gate behind them.

"He's fine." James said. "And he's not alone. Victoria can cheer him up in no time."  
Lily smiled. "If anyone can, she can."

James' brow furrowed for a moment before he spoke again. "You're parents busy tomorrow?" he asked.

Lily looked confused. "I don't think so." She shrugged. "Probably not, it's Sunday."

James nodded. "Do you think we could all get together? You, me and all our parents?"

She nodded too, but slowly. "I'm sure we can, but…why?"

He was smiling now. "To tell them that we're moving in with each other, of course." He told her, and squeezed her fingers. "We've got to do it soon, or the house will be gone."

"Right." Lily made a face, then sighed. "I guess you're right. At my house or at your house?"  
"Mine." He laughed. "My dad misses you."

Lily smiled. "We'll be over tomorrow morning." She said, and she kissed him once before disapparating.

--

The Evans' looked wary as they piled into their family car the next morning. Lily could feel it as her father shot her a curious look in the rear view mirror every two seconds, though she couldn't blame him. She hadn't told them why they were all driving to James' house, just that there was something they wanted to talk about with everyone present. She couldn't blame them for being anxious.

The drive to the Potters' wasn't very long, but with the tension that filled the front and back seats, it felt longer. Finally, they pulled to a stop outside the cozy looking home, and they got of the car. Lily led the way up to the front door, and when her parents caught up, she raised her fist to rap against the door.

It took a moment for some one to answer, but eventually, Mrs. Potter pulled it open. She smiled at her visitors, but Lily could sense the same feeling of foreboding that she had felt the whole way here. Obviously James hadn't told them what this discussion was going to be about either.

Priscilla Potter invited them in, all smiles as she kissed Mrs. Evans' cheeks and had hers kissed by Lily's father. When Lily entered, she could see James and his father coming down the stairs one after the other.

After all the greetings were over and done with, the group eventually made their way into the Potters' sitting room. The parents found themselves sitting on the sofa, while Lily and James squeezed into the loveseat by the window.

Lily's father was the first to speak.  
"So, you kids called this meeting," he said, clapping his aged hands together. "What's this about?"  
James and Lily exchanged looks and he – James – cleared his throat.

"Lily and I, uh, wanted to discuss something with you. We thought it would be easiest if we were all together to do it."

Lily nodded in agreement, and the parents waited.

"And what is it that you wanted to discuss?" Mrs. Potter asked politely.

Taking a deep breath, Lily was the one to answer. "James and I are going to move in together." She said quickly, staring at her feet, too afraid to look the adults in the eye.

She heard some one clear their throat, and looked up. It was her mother. "Don't you think that you're… a bit young to be living together?" she asked.

James shrugged. "Lily's eighteen in January, and then I am in March." He said. "We might be a bit young, yeah, but I can't see myself with anyone but Lily. Why wait?"

They watched as all the parents on the sofa exchanged looks, waiting quietly.  
"Have you thought this through?" James' mother asked.

Lily nodded. "We've been talking about it for a while now."  
"There's a nice little flat not too far from here that would be perfect. We can pay for it easily, and it's near everything important." James added.

"We were waiting to sign for it, until we talked about it with you."

For a few moments, no one spoke; no one seemed to know what to say. But then, shuffling his feet, Lily's father broke the quiet.

"If this is what you want, and if you've really thought it though," And here, he glanced down at the row of parents who nodded in agreement. "Then I think you should sign the papers for the house."

Lily breathed a sigh of relief that she hoped wasn't too loud. "Thank you." She said, unable to stop the smile from spreading across her face as she turned to look at James. She found that he was grinning too.

Mr. Potter leaned back in his seat and laughed. "Well," he said, eyes twinkling. "What are you waiting for?"

They stood up and Lily walked over to her parents. She kissed them each, and muttered a thank you before she and James left the house.

"Are we sure about this?" Mrs. Potter asked, eyeing them as they walked back out to the hall, hand in hand.

Mr. Evans laughed. "No. Not at all." He said. "But look at them. Look at how happy they are."  
"They'll be fine." Mr. Potter assured his wife. "They're in love."

--

"Sign here, and here." The realtor said, thrusting a clipboard at them. He was tall and thin, skin and bones. His blond hair was thinning and receding, making his shiny forehead more prominent. He puffed on a cigarette while he waited. Lily waved the smoke away with her hand. He didn't seem to notice.

James passed her the paper, and she signed her name where he had indicated before handing it back to him.

"Alright," he said, feeling around inside the pocket of his coat. "It seems like everything's in order. Here are the keys," he finally found them and let them fall into James' palm. "Enjoy your new home."

He turned on his heel and walked back to his car without as much as another word. Lily watched him pull out of their driveway, and take off down the street before she looked up at James. She started slightly, seeing him grinning down at her.

"What are you smiling about?" she asked, but she couldn't resist smiling back up at him.

"This is _our_ house." He said, and he wrapped his arms tightly around her waist, pulling him so close against his chest that there was no space between them, so close that their heartbeats merged.

"That sounds nice." She said, brushing hair back off his forehead with the tips of her fingers, watching it as it just fell right back into place, completely untameable.

"Yeah, it does." He let go of all of her but her hand, and dragged off towards the door. Using his free hand, he opened the door with the keys he had been given and together, they stepped into their hallway.  
"Welcome home." James said, still smiling as he bent his head and completely engulfed Lily's lips with his own, feeling his head spin. _Welcome home_.

Author's Note: So, this chapter was probably pretty boring. At least, the end of it was. The first part was pretty exciting. But the end was mainly just to show that Lily and James are now moving in with each other, and blah, blah, blah. Hope you liked it anyway.

Thanks for the reviews and faves I've gotten, and for the ones I'm going to keep getting. Riiiiight?

-Cait.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I own next to nothing.

Author's Note: So, it took a while to update (I realize that my last Author's Note in Chapter 4 said the update was quick; Sorry. I finished that chapter right after the third, but I didn't have the chance to update). I apologize for the delay, my school work took up a lot of my time, and I mean _a lot_ of it. But it paid off, because it's end of term and my marks are super good. Now that terms over, I'm going to do my best to update a bit more frequently. Regardless, I won't let the story die (bad news for people who don't like my stories, huh? (;)

Chapter 5: The Order of the Phoenix.

"I'm doing paperwork! Can you believe this?" Victoria groaned, holding up the files she was leaning over as proof. Obviously disappointed by the way everyone seemed so calm while she was in such distress, she made a noise like an angry cat at the back of her throat and turned back to her work.

Lily laughed as she walked by, hearing her friend's complaints. "Are those the files Moody gave you for being late again this morning?" she asked, pausing to lean over Victoria's shoulder.

"Ugh," she said, rolling her eyes. "I was _not_ late. His watch is way too fast."

Lily just laughed again and walked away, leaving her friend with her work and with an angry look on her face. She continued down the hall, stopping in front of a door with the name, 'Mad-Eye Moody' stamped across it. She lifted a fist to rap lightly against the door, but she never got the chance.

"Come in, Evans," came the rough voice from inside.

Lily started just slightly, and turned the handle on the door, letting herself in.

"I finished the reports on the Williams and Stones attacks. Penny mentioned you wanted them right away," she said, thinking back to earlier that morning when the new assistant had passed the message along.

"I did," he said, grabbing them and quickly scanning over the front page. "Thanks, Evans."

"No problem," Lily replied with a small smile, and she turned to leave.

"Wait," he barked, making her jump again, and she turned back around. "Sit."

Lily lowered herself into the chair in front of his desk.

"I've been meaning to talk to you," Moody said, leaning forward on his elbows. "Well, you and a few other people, but while I've got you here, I figure I may as well get it over with."

He paused for a moment, eyeing Lily across from him as she waited patiently for him to continue.

"You ever heard of the Order of the Phoenix?" he asked, sitting straight again.

Lily shook her head.

"It's a secret organization," Moody began to explain. "Dumbledore's in charge of it and it's made up of people who want to fight against the Dark Lord. There are a few aurors among our ranks, but we're still recruiting. And for a while now Evans, we've had our eye on you."

She felt her eyes widen a bit in surprise. "You want me to join?" she verified in a small voice.

"Yes," he nodded. "But it's not something you have to do, keep that in mind. I'm assuming you know what you'd be getting yourself into." He added, staring pointedly at her across the desk. "I'll give you a while to think about it while we talk to everyone else. Hopefully I'll get it all over with today."

She nodded, then cleared her throat quietly. "Who else are you thinking of asking?" she asked, though she felt she already had a good idea.

"Potter, Lupin and Black for starters." Moody said, confirming her assumption. "And we're also thinking of your friend Finnegan and Pettigrew."

Lily nodded.

"Give it some thought, Evans," Moody said, nodding toward the door. Lily took it as a dismissal and, promising to mull it over, got to her feet and left the office.

--

The rest of the day passed smoothly, so smoothly that there was nothing to do but finish up paperwork and sit around waiting for the five o'clock dismissal. Days like this had been becoming a dying breed, what with the way the Death Eaters had been attacking, but a day without any deaths was far more than welcome.

"Any plans tonight?" James asked, leaning back against Remus' desk.

"Naw," Remus replied, glancing up from the folder he'd been closing. "Why? D'you have anything in mind?"

James shrugged. "I thought it'd be nice to get together. You, me, Sirius and Peter?" he raised his eyebrows as he waited.

"Sounds good," Remus said with a small grin as he rose from his chair. "Except Peter's still got a cold, and Sirius has got a date."

"A date?" James asked. "With who?"

"Victoria."

"What?"

Remus laughed and nodded. "They're going to dinner," he explained as he grabbed his coat off the rack.

"Huh," James said, frowning slightly. "Well, it's just us then. We can go to my place and play those snazzy games Lily gave me."

"The video games?"

"Yeah, yeah," James grinned, shrugging into his jacket. "Whatever. I need to get you back for the last time."

Remus snorted as the two of them began to walk out of the building. "Yeah right," he said. "Like that's going to happen."

--

The clock over the front door ticked just past seven o'clock. Victoria glanced down at the watch on her wrist, to be sure they read the same thing, and sighed. He was late, though she supposed she shouldn't be surprised – Sirius wasn't well known for following a schedule.

Her fingertips tapped idly against the cool glass that held her water, and she stared at them as they moved. She was so intent on them that she didn't notice at first when some one slipped into the bench across from her. She jumped when she looked up and saw Sirius sitting there grinning.

"I'm sorry I'm late," he said quickly, eyeing her as though he was waiting to be forgiven.

"It's fine," Victoria grinned. "You're not that late."

"Did you already order?" he asked, and watched her shake her head. "Are you hungry?"

"Starving," she laughed.

Sirius laughed with her, and nodded in agreement. "So am I." He waved over the waitress, who brought over two menus and set them down on the edge of the table. Both Victoria and Sirius grabbed one and held it up, reading through the meals. The waitress was back in a few minutes to take their orders, and then they were left to wait.

Sirius watched Victoria across the table as she glanced around the small restaurant and let her fingers graze along the rim of her glass. It made him smile.

When she looked back at him, she was surprised to find him staring at her. "What?" she asked, eyeing him suspiciously.

"Nothing," he smirked. "You look really nice, today."

"Thank you." Victoria smiled.

"You're very welcome."

The meal passed without a hitch, and they talked and laughed, louder than any other the other customers' seated around them. The waitress that had served them seemed happy when Sirius waved her back over and handed her a few bills to cover the evening. He was the first to his feet, and he outstretched his hands to pull her out of her seat. But even as they were both standing, he didn't let her hand go. He held onto it as they wove through the tables to the restaurant exit and as they walked down the sidewalk. Sirius had conveniently chosen this restaurant because of how close it was to Victoria's apartment building. Together, they strolled down the streets, still laughing, until they stopped in front of the building where Victoria lived.

They turned to face one another at the exact same time, and this made them laugh again.

Victoria was still grinning as she spoke. "Thanks, Sirius," she said. "I had a really great time."

"Thank_ you_," he said, running his thumb along the back of her hand. Sirius smiled and leaned down to kiss her lightly on the cheek, and when he pulled away, said, "I'll see you tomorrow."

Victoria was beaming as she nodded and waved once as he began to walk away (to disapparate, she imagined, away from the open area), and as she turned towards the front door to her apartment building and let herself in.

--

At this point, there were bottles of butterbeer and fire whiskey lying across James' bedroom floor. The two adults looked rather childish sitting at the end of his bed, fingers rapping quickly against the remote controls and each of them staring intently at the TV screen in front of them (Remus had had to hook everything up, as James still had trouble with the buttons and wires on Lily's old television).

A loud explosion came from the television set, and Remus laughed loudly. "Ha!" he said, setting his control down for a moment and grinning smugly at James.

"You cheated," James accused.

Remus sighed. "Stop making excuses. It's not my fault you suck at this game." He pointed out.

"I don't suck." He argued, but then laughed. "Okay, I suck a little. You know, Lily usually lets me win."

Remus snorted. "That's because she's in love with you," he said. "Don't expect that kind of treatment from me."

James sighed. "Not even once?"

"Not even once." Remus glanced at the clock, and made a face. "I better get going." He said, groaning as he struggled to his feet.

"I'll see you tomorrow morning." James said, stifling a yawn with the back of his hand.

Remus groaned again. "Yeah," he waved once and disapparated from the doorway of James' room.

The loud crack of it must have alerted his mother, for she came down the hall and stopped at the door in time to see James picking up the bottles off his floor and tossing them in the garbage.

"Remus left?" she asked.

James turned and nodded. "Yeah," he replied. "Just now."

Mrs. Potter stood in the doorway, gnawing her lower lip, looking torn.

James noticed. "What is it?"

She sighed and entered the room, sitting down on the end of her son's bed. James sat next to her.

"Your father told me to stay out of this," she said with a small laugh. "But you know how good I am at minding my own business."

James smiled and gave his mother a look that told her to continue.

"I was thinking about you and Lily, moving in together," Mrs. Potter said, looking rather guilty as she said it.

"You think we're too young," James guessed.

His mother smiled and nodded.

"We're a little young, maybe," he agreed with half a shrug. "But I love her enough that it doesn't matter."

"I can see that," Mrs. Potter smiled. "But I still worry."

"Don't, mum." James said. "You worry way too much."

She laughed. "So I've heard."

There was silence for a moment that seemed longer than it really was, where James stared at his hands, and Mrs. Potter stared at her son. But finally, James broke it, clearing his throat before he spoke.

"I'm going to ask her to marry me." He said, briefly looking up from his intertwined fingers to glance at his mother's face.

She was beaming. "I had a feeling you would," she said. "When?"

James sighed. "I don't know yet," he said honestly. "I have to buy a ring, and think of the perfect way to do it…"

"But?" Mrs. Potter prompted, sensing there was something more.

"I'm afraid she'll say no," he admitted.

Mrs. Potter sighed. "Honey, everyone feels like that before they propose. No one can be sure of how some one will react," she explained. "If you asked your father, I'm sure he'd tell you the same thing." She paused for a moment, carefully watching the expression on her son's face. "I can't tell you what her answer will be, but I can tell that she loves you very, very much, dear. Anyone can see that."

James smiled.

"Whatever you decide," she continued. "I'm sure it's going to work out wonderfully." She lightly kissed the side of his head and used his shoulder to ease herself off the bed. After affectionately squeezing her son's arm, she left the room and creaked back down the hall.

James sighed and ran his hands through his hair before collapsing backwards onto his bed, staring up past the ceiling, and up past the stars.

--

The next morning came quicker than he'd have liked, but he found he had nothing to complain about when his mother's voice carried up the stairs and into his bedroom.

"James, wake up!" she called. "Lily's here."

Groggily, he rubbed at his closed eyes with the palms of his hands and sat slowly up. He groped around for his glasses, and stuffed them on his face, and jumped as everything came into clearer focus, namely the figure standing in the doorway of his bedroom.

"Morning," Lily laughed from where she stood.

James smiled through a yawn. "M-m-morning." He said, slowly getting to his feet.

"Your mom said I could come up and wake you," she smiled at the sight of him, half dressed with his hair sticking up in every direction, messier than usual. "I thought we could head into work together today."

Grinning, James crossed the room and swiftly wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her close against him. He lightly pressed his lips against hers, and was still smiling when he pulled back at looked her in the eye.

"I'll be ten minutes," he promised, letting her go and walking over to his dresser. He extracted clothes, and headed towards the door. "Wait here."

Lily walked over to his bed, and plopped herself down on it, ready to wait.

It barely took him ten minutes; he was back in what felt like no time at all, dressed with his wet hair still sticking up all over the place. He was adjusting his glasses on his nose as he walked back into his room and found his shoes.

"I don't know how you get up so early all the time," he said as he sat next to her so he could tie his shoes more easily.

"It's called an alarm clock," Lily said with a small smile.

"Do you want to be my alarm clock from now on?" he asked slyly. "Because I don't really mind if _you_ want to wake me up every morning." He leaned over and kissed the end of her nose before getting to his feet and holding his hands out to help her up.

Lily beamed, but didn't answer him, and she let him close his big hands over her small ones and pull her back to her feet. She didn't let him go as they walked down the stairs and as he poked his head into the kitchen to say goodbye to his parents.

They apparated from the front hall to a place a few blocks from the ministry, intending to walk the rest of the way.

"Has Moody talked to you yet?" Lily asked as they strolled along the sidewalk hand in hand, avoiding the commuters hurrying along in opposite directions. "About the Order of the Phoenix…"

"Ah," James said with a sigh. "Yes, he did. He dragged me, Sirius and Remus into his office yesterday afternoon. Why? He asked you, too?"

Lily nodded.

"What did you say?" he asked.

"I told him I'd think about it," she replied, looking up at him.

"So did we," James nodded. "But I think I'm going to tell him yes."

Lily smiled. "I thought you would."

"Am I that predictable?" he grinned.

Lily peered up as she thought, and laughed once. "Maybe a little bit," she said. "But it's a good thing. I only knew you'd say yes because you're a good person, and you want to help fight."

James squeezed her hand gently and bent closer to say softly in her ear, "And that's why you're going to say yes, too, right?"

Lily laughed again and nodded.

James chuckled and kissed her temple before pulling her into the phone booth entrance to the ministry. With his free hand, for he still hadn't let her hand go, he reached around her and twisted the dial. The phone booth soon began to lower itself.

"Going down," James grinned, leaning back against one of the walls and pulling her against him again, bending his head to her level to kiss her again.

Author's Note: So, chapter five is up. Chapter five out of twenty two, I'm thinking, if there are no more changes in my plot. This chapter was originally going to be completely different, but I cut that one out and replaced it with this, so, I hope you like it. As always, read and review, thanks for the ones I've already got (seriously, thanks so much), and for the ones I'm going to get. (;

Cait. xox


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I own next to nothing.

Author's Note: I've got to stop saying I'll update sooner. I've been so busy as of late, what with exams and the holidays and everything piling up after that. Plus, I've been trying to apply to college as well, so that's taken up quite a bit of my time. But I think I've finally found time to start writing again. Hopefully, anyways.

Anyway, about the chapter. This one takes place about three weeks after the last one, just to clear that up. It's been so long since I've written anything that I think I might be a bit rusty. Hope it's alright anyway.

Chapter 6: Settling Down

As Mrs. Evans strolled down the hallway, casually passing her daughter's room, she did a double take. Boxes were floating around the place, clothes were flying up in the hair but landing neatly; it was chaos.

"Gracious, Lily," she said with a small laugh, standing in the doorway of the room. "Could you be making a bigger mess?"

From the other side of her bed, Lily's head popped up and she looked over in her mother's direction. "Sorry," she grinned apologetically. "I promise it will be perfectly clean when I'm done."

Mrs. Evans smiled and walked further into the room, eyeing her daughter's belongings. "I was only teasing," she said. "Do you want some help?"

With a soft grunt, Lily got off her hands and knees and brushed hair away from her face where it had been sticking. "No, thanks," she said. "I think I've got it under control. But you can keep me company."

"I'd be happy to," Mrs. Evans replied, and she sat down on the only part of Lily's bed that wasn't taken up by some box or garbage bag of her things. "Make sure you get everything."

Lily pulled her drawers open, and began emptying them the same way she had done her closet earlier. She waved her wand, and the clothes from inside flew out and landed in the garbage back on the floor. "I will," Lily promised.

There was quiet for a few moments as Lily finished emptying her wardrobe and moved on to pull all her books off the shelf.

"We'll miss you when you're gone," Mrs. Evans said, then. She was idly fiddling with a loose thread from Lily's comforter.

Lily turned to flash her a small smile. "I'll miss you too, mum," she agreed. "But just think, you'll be able to turn my room into the painting room you wanted. You want have to lock yourself in the basement anymore."

Mrs. Evans chuckled. "That's true," she nodded. "Your room _is_ much nicer that the basement."

"There's always a silver lining," Lily smiled.

"I suppose there is. Your father says he wants to help you drop your stuff off this afternoon."

Lily sighed. "Of course he does," she said, but she was still smiling. "He knows I won't let him carry anything, right?"

Again, Mrs. Evans laughed. "And you know that he's not going to listen. You're his little girl, Lily, he just wants to see you off right."

"I know."

And as though he'd heard their conversation, Mr. Evans' voice carried up the stairs. "Lily!" he shouted. "Are you almost ready to go?"

"Almost!" she called back. "Just a few more minutes!" Lily waved her wand once, and her books pulled themselves off the shelf, and filed themselves into the last box.

She glanced around one last time; to be sure she'd gotten everything and found that she had. All her belongings seemed to have been packed away, and all that was left was to levitate them downstairs. She waved her wand again, and one by one, the boxes lifted into the air and floated into the hall and down the stairwell.

Mrs. Evans rose to her feet with a slight creaking from Lily's mattress and followed her daughter as she in turn followed her belongings. The stairs groaned under their feet as they hurried down the stairs to find Mr. Evans already lugging Lily's things out to the car.

"Dad!" Lily protested and he hoisted a pile of two boxes into his arms and turned towards the door.

"You worry too much, Lils," he told her as he headed outside.

Lily turned to her mother with a sigh and a quick roll of her eyes. Mrs. Evans laughed and draped her arm around Lily's shoulders, gently pulling her against her side. "Let him have his fun," she said with an affectionate smile. "He'll regret it later when he's lying in bed with a back ache, and you can call and say I told you so.

"We'll miss you, Lily Billy," she said as the pair of them started to walk towards the door. She pressed a kiss to Lily's cheek and turned to place her hands on her shoulders, standing in front of her and holding her daughter at arms' length. "We'll want to hear from you and see you all the time."  
Lily smiled. "Mum, it's not like I'm leaving the country," she pointed out teasingly. "You'll be hearing from me more often now than you did while I was at school."

"I know," Mrs. Evans said. "But this isn't the same. You're not just going away to school, you're _moving out_. It's a big deal. You're all grown up."

Lily opened her mouth to reply, though she wasn't sure what to say. Luckily, she was spared as her father reappeared in the doorway; he'd managed to transfer the boxes and garbage bags while Lily and her mother had been talking.

"You ready to go?" he asked, leaning against the doorframe.

Nodding, Lily turned back to her mother and leaned down a bit to kiss her mother's cheek. "We'll invite you over as soon as everything's settled, I promise." She said.

Mrs. Evans nodded and followed her daughter out the door, hovering on the front stoop while Lily slid into the passenger's seat of the family car. Her father put the car in reverse and pulled out of the driveway. Lily returned her mother's wave as they started off down the street.

The drive to the new house was a rather quiet one as her father was naturally a quiet man, and Lily could think of nothing to say. She watched the towns flash by outside her window, fingers drumming against her knee in time to the music playing from the speakers. It didn't take too long to reach the house, just over forty-five minutes or so, but eventually Mr. Evans was parking outside the house behind an old purple car that Lily didn't recognize.

Both doors of the car opened and Lily and her father stepped out. Mr. Evans walked around the front of the car to join Lily on the other side and for a moment, both of them gazed up at the house. The front door was left open and she could see a pile of boxes already stacked in the front hall.

"Nice place," Mr. Evans said after clearing his throat.

Lily glanced over at him and nodded, smiling widely. "Yeah, it is," she agreed.

Her father cleared her throat again and stepped around her, moving towards the trunk of the car. He opened it with the keys and began to pull Lily's belongings out, setting them on the sidewalk.

"Dad, I can do that," Lily protested.

"Naw, it's fine, I –"

"No, really, Dad," Lily said, and she pulled her wand out of the pocket of her jeans and waved it; the boxed lifted into the air and floated off towards the house at top speed.

Mr. Evans smiled sheepishly and nodded. "I forgot about that," he said, watching them speed off.

There was a loud noise, then, coming from the inside of the house. It was a crashing sound and a loud yelp. Lily and her father exchanged glances of curiosity before hurrying up the pathway and entering the house to find Lily's boxes scattered on the floor and James sitting in the middle of them, his glasses slightly askew.

"Shoot," Lily said, chewing her lip as she moved to help him up. "Are you okay?"

Grinning, James took the offered hands and stood up. "I'm just fine," he laughed, leaning down to kiss her cheek. "Kind of scared me a bit when boxes were suddenly flying at me, though, and I think I might have a bruise." He pointed to his chest to indicate where the bruise might appear, but he was grinning the whole time.

"Sorry." Lily muttered.

James glanced around her to smile at her father. "Hello, Mr. Evans," he said politely, stepping forward to shake the man's hand.

Mr. Evans grinned back. "Tom," he corrected, clasping James' hand for a moment before letting go. "You haven't even settled in yet and she's already trying to kill you," he teased, glancing at his daughter.

Lily frowned. "I said I was sorry, didn't I?" she said, looking between the two others.

Another voice joined the conversation, then, and Lily looked up to see Mr. Potter coming down the stairs. "I heard crashing," he said, smiling cheerily. "Who's trying to kill who?" he asked with a chuckle, stepping around both James and Lily to shake Mr. Evans hand, joining him at his side and smiling over at Lily.

"No one's trying to kill anyone," James said, peace-making.

"That's a start," Mr. Potter said. "We'll leave you two to unpack, I guess," he said, looking at Mr. Evans who nodded in agreement. James' father clapped his son on the back, beamed at Lily. He paused on his way to the door and turned back. "Say, Tom – how would you and Virginia like to come to dinner at our house tonight?" he asked.

Mr. Evans grinned. "That sounds nice," he said with a nod. "I'll run it by Gin and let you know."

Mr. Potter nodded again and left, and the sound of a car starting could be heard. Lily raised her eyebrows at it, but no one else took any notice. She turned her attention to her father, and she took a few quick steps towards him and wrapped her arms around his neck. Mr. Evans returned the hug.

"We'll miss you at home, Lily Billy," he told her in her ear.

"I'll miss you, too," she replied. "I'll call every day. So much that you'll get sick of me and turn the ringer off on the phone."

Mr. Evans chuckled and pulled away. He leaned forward to kiss his daughter on the forehead, nodded at James and turned to walk away.

"Bye Dad," Lily called after him, stepping into the doorway to watch him climb back into the car. She waved as he drove away, just as her mother had done to them before. He disappeared down the street and before Lily had the chance to turn around and take a few steps further into the house, strong arms caught her around her waist and lifted her into the air, hugging her as they spun in a small circle.

She was laughing as James set her back down on her feet, and she kept her arms loosely draped around his neck.

"Hi," he grinned, pressing a brief kiss to her lips.

"Hi," Lily smiled back.

James chuckled and kissed her again before he let her go.

"Looks like we've got a lot to do," he said, eyeing the many boxes stacked and scattered around them.

"No kidding," Lily agreed, running her hands through her hair. She glanced up at him. "Should we get started?"

James shrugged. "Might as well," he said with a small sigh, and he turned to one of the boxes, just as Lily crouched down in front of another. He raised his eyebrows when she began to pull things out of the boxes and stack them in a pile. He cleared his throat.

Lily turned with a puzzled look to see James waving his wand pointedly. "Oh, right," she said, pulling her own out of her pocket and getting to her feet. "I forgot." She waved it once and things flew out of the boxes and stacked themselves with a _lot_ less effort on her part.

James chuckled.

It was hours later, the day entirely gone by by the time they'd managed to unpack all their things (it was amazing how easy things were, and how quickly things got done with magic on your side). Though the place was still quite unorganised, much to Lily's dismay, she had to admit that it was much better than leaving boxes stacked messily in the entrance to their home. The bookshelf from Lily's old room was stuck against one wall in what would eventually be their sitting room, and her books (and the few of James') were piled onto it. The television from James' old room had been put into what would be their bedroom, and the rest of the belongings had been put into their proper places (at least for the time being).

"Well," James said that evening as he and Lily sat curled up on the two-seated sofa that James had managed to salvage from his parents' garage. "I think we did a pretty good job, what do you think?" With the arm he had around her shoulders, he gave her an affectionate squeeze.

Lily smiled. "I agree," she said, snuggling closer against his side.

They lapsed into a comfortable silence for a few moments, each apparently lost in their own thoughts, until Lily broke the quite, tilting her head upon James' shoulder to peer up at him.

"Since when does your dad drive?" she asked, eyebrows arched in curiosity.

James laughed. "For a while, I guess," he said with a slight shrug. "He's not very good at it. He got the car from my grandfather; he liked to play around with muggle things every now and then."

"Oh," Lily said, and she readjusted herself against his side so she wasn't craning her neck to gaze up at him.

James simply nodded, and then, quite out of nowhere, he gave a quiet chuckle and Lily lifted her head again, staring him down curiously.

"What?" she asked, but at the sight of him smiling, her own lips curved up as well.

"Nothing," he said, kissing her forehead and then a path down to the tip of her nose. "I just can't believe we finally have our own home."

Lily's smile only grew. "I know," she agreed. "It's hard to believe. I used to hate you," she added laughingly, teasingly.

"That's true," James nodded with a smirk. "I was right all along, though. I always said we'd end up together."

"Rub it in, why don't you," she said, pretending to frown.

James leaned his head down and kissed her. "I love you, Lily Billy," he said quietly, his breath softly fanning across her skin.

Lily's lips curved back too. "I love you, too, Potter," she laughed, and cuddled a bit closer against his side, head upon his shoulder again.

James smoothed hair away from Lily's fair face, tucking it behind her ear before he tightened his arm around her, pulling her even closer and they stayed that way until the pair of them fell asleep, chests heaving evenly, heartbeats almost merged together.

Author's Note: So, there we have it: Chapter six. It's not really important or crucial to the plot of the story, but I thought I'd throw it in there just to show how Lily and James settled in together, or whatever. I'm not sure if it's entirely accurate – the whole moving in and unpacking and everything – since I've never moved anywhere, but I did my best, and I figured it wouldn't matter since they're magical anyway (

Anyway, I'm really sorry for the _really_ slow update, and I hope you liked the chapter.

Thanks for reading, and as always, please review!

-Cait.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I own next to nothing.

Author's Note: Boy oh boy, this update took forever. I had major freaking writers block for like, the longest time. I kept losing my ideas when I had them, and the rest of the time, I just couldn't come up with anything. Plus, I've been pretty busy. I was in Europe for twelve days, then I've been doing homework, and make-up homework… and ugh, just tons of things. But I hope I'll be able to write more nowadays.

Chapter Seven: Secret Shopping

"If I've got to fill out another bloody report, I'm going to organize one of those muggle things where they… hold signs and refuse to work. What are they called Lily?" Sirius asked as he slumped forward onto his desk, head atop a messy stack of papers and files.

"Uh," Lily said, glancing up from her own work. "A strike?" she asked, eyebrows pulling together a bit, and her words were a bit muffled since her lips were shaped around the end of her quill as she gnawed on it in thought.

"Sure, one of those," Sirius said without lifting his head.

"You know, that'd probably be more work than the reports," Lily pointed out, lowering her head again and returning to her word, hand hastily moving across the page.

"Damn it," Sirius cursed, finally lifting his head. He rubbed his fists over his shut eyes in frustration and sighed, picking up his quill again and letting his gaze roam over the paper until he found where he'd left off.

With all the attacks and disappearances, the aurors were constantly filling out reports, detailing the exact events so that they would be able to keep track of them and possibly find a pattern to prevent them from happening. So far the only thing that they could find in common with the crimes were the victims: muggles, muggleborns or simply people who didn't believe that pureblood was the only way to go.

"I need a lunch break," Sirius said, finishing up the last bit of his report.

"You just had breakfast," Victoria reminded him from behind her desk, lifting her head to smile at him.

Sirius smiled back. "That was forty five minutes ago," he said, speaking as though it was absolutely crazy that he had gone so long without a meal.

Victoria shook her head.  
"Would you care to join me?" he asked, pushing his chair back and pulling his coat off the back of it and shrugging into it.

Victoria pulled a face and shook her head again, slowly this time. "I can't," she said, frowning a bit. "I've still got three files to finish up before one o'clock."

"Good luck," he laughed, playfully mussing her hair as he passed her. "Maybe James and Peter are game. I'll see you later," he said as he left the area, most likely in search of the aforementioned friends.

"Later," Victoria smiled and resumed her work.

Sirius found Peter just outside the building, coat open and blowing back in the window and a cigarette hanging out from between his tight lips. Peter was absently staring down at the ground, kicking at loose stones on the sidewalk.

"Hey Wormy," Sirius grinned, clapping his friend on the back.

The cigarette fell out of Peter's mouth as he started and turned to see Sirius standing there. "Merlin, Padfoot," he breathed, sniffling a bit and he swiped at his nose with the back of his hand. "It's not right to sneak up on people like that."

"Who's sneaking?" Sirius chuckled, pulling a pack of smokes out of his breast pocket and offering him one. "Seen James anywhere?" he then asked, lighting his own cigarette, and then Peter's. "I was thinking we could all go out for lunch."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Peter said, inhaling. "But I haven't seen James around today. I didn't even see him show up for work."

Sirius frowned. "Really?" he asked, thinking about where James could have gone instead of showing up to work. Now that he really thought about it, he remembered seeing Lily come in on her own, but Sirius hadn't had time to ask where his friend was and he guessed that he eventually forgot about it. "Huh, that's weird," he muttered, but he wasn't distracted for long; Sirius shrugged and continued with, "Well, we can still hit the nearest restaurant right? 'Cause I'm starved."

"Sure thing," Peter agreed, nodding as the pair of them set off down the sidewalk. "I haven't eaten since breakfast," he glanced down at the gold watch on his chubby wrist and frowned. "Well, that was only about an hour ago, but still…"

Sirius chuckled and clapped him on the back again. "I couldn't agree with you more, mate."

Lily gave a long sigh as she leaned back in her chair, setting her quill firmly down on the edge of her desk. She took a moment to bask in the joy of having completed her reports for the day before she pulled all the papers together neatly and stuffed them back into the folder. Then she wheeled back her chair and got to her feet, pausing to stretch a bit (which was a great relief after spending all morning in a chair, hunched forward over her desk), before walking around her desk and heading towards Moody's office.

She stopped just outside the door and knocked lightly on it, but loud enough that he would here.

"Come in, Evans," he called from inside.

Lily turned the brass doorknob and let herself into the man's office.

"I uh, finished the reports for the week," she said, setting them gently down at the edge of his messy desk, away from the stack of papers he seemed to be working on.

Moody glanced up at Lily, then at the folders she'd presented him with. "Already?" he asked, sounding mildly impressed.

Dutifully, Lily nodded. "Yes sir."

Moody paused and then replied, "Good work, Evans."

"Thank you, sir," Lily smiled, and turned to leave. But she stopped halfway to the door and turned back, suddenly remembering something. "Oh, and sir?" she said, making sure she had his attention.

Moody looked up (apparently she did).

"About the Order of the Phoenix, sir," she began, tucking her hair behind her ears with both hands as she spoke. "I've come up with my answer, and I've decided that I'd like to join."  
Moody cracked a rare smile and leaned back in his chair. "That's good news," he said, nodding to himself. "Glad to hear it. Dumbledore will be too. He seemed pretty happy when I let him know that the boys were joining up – Potter, Lupin, Black and Pettigrew, that is."

Lily just smiled as Moody stopped for a moment, looking thoughtful. She sensed that there was more, so she waited just by the door.

Sure enough, Moody continued with, "There's a meeting next week, probably next Thursday. Do you think you can make it?" he asked, arching his eyebrows at her.

Lily nodded. "Sure thing, sir," she replied. "No problem."

"When I find out, I'll let you know where it is," he told her, looking back down at his work and picking up his quill again.

Nodding again, Lily took this as a dismissal and she turned back towards the door and left his office as she replied with, "Sounds good." She made her way back to her desk and grabbed her coat.

"If anyone asks," she said to the collective group of friends around her. "I've just gone out for a walk. I've been sitting for much too long."

Victoria grunted in reply without looking up from her work, and Lily laughed as she swept past her desk, heading around the corner and out of sight.

Another glance down at his wristwatch told him that she was now half an hour late and his lips pulled southward in a worried frown.

_Where is she?_ James thought, narrowing his eyes at his watch as thought it was its fault that she had not yet arrived. He couldn't just stand in the middle of the sidewalk all day. As it was, people were probably already wondering where he was.

"Sorry I'm late!" a voice said over a quick clicking of heels against the sidewalk. "Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry."

James grinned as he looked up and spotted her running towards him, yelling and earning herself a few strange looks from the passers-by which she replied to with a graceful gesture involving the middle finger of her left hand. James chuckled as Anna came to a stop just in front of him.

"I'm so sorry, James," she said. "I completely lost track of time."

James shook his head, still grinning. "It's fine. You're here now, so let's get to this, shall we?" he extended a bent arm for her to loop her own arm through, which she promptly did, and together they set off down the street.

"So, where is it that we're going exactly?" he asked, looking down at her.

Anna looked up. "There's a small shop just a block or two from here," she told him with a quick nod of her head. "And they sell beautiful rings there."

James smiled. "And you think that I'll be able to find one for Lily in there?" he asked.

"Oh, definitely," Anna said, glancing both ways as they crossed the street. "It's just up here."

They walked a bit further before turning into a small boutique, the bell over the door tipping the clerk off of their arrival, and the elderly man grinned at them as they approached the counter.

"Good afternoon," he said cheerily with a broad smile. "What can I do for you?"

"We're, uh, looking for engagement rings…" James said, looking a bit nervous now that they were actually in the store.

The man's face brightened even more and he looked between James and Anna. "Well, congratulations." He said, clapping his wrinkled hands together.

Anna laughed and shook her head. "Oh, no," she said, shaking her head. "_We're_ not engaged. I'm just here to help him pick out a ring… it's for a good friend of mine."

A knowing look appeared on the man's face and he waved them over as he moved around behind the counter. "I see, I see," he said. "Our engagement rings are over here. I'll let you look at them, and if you want to see any up close, just call me back over and I'll be pleased to take them out for you."

"Thanks," James said with a grateful smile, and he and Anna began to pour over the rings.

"Gold or silver?" he asked, looking over at Anna.

"Gold."

"Should it have a big stone, or a small one?"

"Small. Lily thinks that small rings are cute."

"Right."

The process of elimination continued in a similar fashion until together they narrowed it down to two. Anna wore both rings on both ring fingers and held them out in front of her so that she and James could weigh the pros and cons of each.

"I like this one better," James said, indicating the one on Anna's left hand.

Anna fluttered her fingers and nodded slowly. "Yes, I think you're right. I like it too, and I know that Lily will love it." It was a beautiful ring with a thin band and a sparkling diamond bordered by two small, beautifully cut emeralds on either side.

"I think so, too." James said, eyeing it closely. "I think I'll take this one."

The old man smiled and took the rings from Anna, replacing one and taking the chosen ring to set it inside a small, velvet box. With quaking hands, he placed a small gold bow atop the box and handed it off to James, who emptied much of his muggle money from his wallet in return. James then carefully tucked the box into his coat pocket and left the store.

As they walked back towards the ministry so that they could finish the day of work before heading home, rain lightly began to fall, so lightly that the pair of them barely noticed until they were standing outside the visitor's entrance with raindrops clinging to their eyelashes.

"So you think she'll like it?" James asked as he turned the dial to the right numbers on the magical phone booth.

Anna grinned brightly. "James, I know she will," she assured him, resting a hand on his arm.

"Do you think she'll say yes?" he asked, a new worry bubbling to the surface.

Anna sighed. "I've never seen two people as in love with each other as you are," she told him. "I don't think you have anything to worry about."

They stepped out of the phone booth and into the ministry and went their separate ways. As James worked his way through crowds heading up to his office, he mentally repeated Anna's words, trying to convince himself. Somehow, he still felt nervous.

Author's Note:

So, there's chapter seven. Hope you enjoyed it.

As always, read and review, and merci beaucoup.

Cait.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize.

Author's Note: Hullo again everyone. I know it's been an awfully long time since I've updated anything, and I know I've been a terrible person for not adding another chapter sooner. The truth is (aside from being completely busy with college homework and exams) I've lost my notebook that I had used to write down my plots and twists and such for the story. It makes me very sad – I've looked everywhere, and I can't seem to find it. I decided that I'll just have to finish the story without my notes, and I hope it goes okay from here. I have a feeling it won't be as good as I'd initially planned, but we'll just have to see.

Here's chapter eight, better late than never, I suppose.

Chapter 8: Surprises ruined?

"This would be so much easier the magic way, Lily," James whined for what might have been the millionth time that afternoon. "So much easier, and _so_ much faster. Can't we just speed things up a bit?" his gaze twitched to the kitchen counter where his wand had been stowed away in a cookie jar by Lily.

Lily giggled and turned to look at him. "Don't even think about it," she said, shaking her head. "We've done all the other rooms by magic, we're doing this one my way. You promised," she reminded him.

James still did not look very happy, but he had promised, and so he stopped complaining – for the time being, at least.

Two and a half of the four kitchen walls were painted a pale yellow colour; the other one and a half (which happened to be on the side of the room that James was working on) were still the original beige colour. They'd started at one, and since then four hours had passed. Lily could hardly blame James for growing bored of the tiresome chore of dragging his brush up and down the kitchen walls, though she thought that the sad face he'd painted on the wall was a bit dramatic.

She paused in her own painting and glanced over at him to see him lazily stroking the brush over the same spot over and over again. Lily laughed and shook her head, dropping her paintbrush to the newspaper-covered floor. She walked over to him and put her arms around his waist, hugging him tightly from behind.

James looked down at her in surprise, and then a pleased smile appeared on his face. "Does this mean we can take a break?" he asked, sounding rather like an eager child.

Lily laughed at his tone and nodded. "Yes, we can take a break."

James was quick to drop his brush and he turned around so that he could face Lily and hug her back properly, arms around her waist.

"You've paint all over your face," Lily pointed out, lifting her hands to try and wipe it from his cheeks. "Ah, oops," she said, realizing that she'd had paint on her fingers. Instead of wiping it off his face, she'd only managed to smear more across it. "Sorry about that," she smiled apologetically.

James narrowed his eyes at her and stepped away from her. "Did you just put more paint on my face?" he asked slowly, as Lily backed away.

"It was completely unintentional," she assured him, laughing as she watched him bend by his bucket of paint and stick his hands in it. They came out dripping and yellow. "What are you doing?"

James chuckled playfully, menacingly. "Nothing," he said innocently, slowly advancing towards Lily with his hands outstretched. He reached her quickly after she backed herself into the counter with no way passed him, and he put his hands on either side of her face and smeared paint over her cheeks, nose and forehead.

Lily squirmed and tried to push him away, but he didn't budge. "James, gross," she laughed, hands pressing and shoving against his chest. He took a step back, laughing, as Lily tried to wipe the paint off with her sleeve and only succeeding in spreading it even more.

"Yellow's a good colour on you," James noted.

Lily frowned and stuck her tongue out at him, earning nothing but a laugh in reply.

"It's itchy," Lily complained, scrunching her cheeks where the paint was beginning to dry.

"You started it," James reminded, and then he took a few steps towards her again and put his hands on her hips. "We could go wash it all off in the shower," he said, smiling mischievously down at her.

Lily lifted her head, noted the smile and caught on quickly. Soon enough she was wearing a smile of her own and she reached up to put her paint covered arms around his neck.

Taking that as a yes, James chuckled and leaned down to kiss her. With his lips firmly against hers, he shifted his arms around her so that he could bend and sweep her up into his arms. He ignored her yelps and giggles of protest, silencing her with another kiss that she happily returned as he carried her out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

--

It was a while before they emerged from the bathroom, fluffy towels wrapped around their bodies. They seemed to have a hard time keeping their hands off one another, their lips apart, as they made their way down the hall from the bathroom to the bedroom. As they reached the closed door to their room, Lily reached behind her and fumbled with the doorknob until it opened and she walked backwards into the room. James kissed her hungrily as he carefully backed her up until the backs of her legs met the edge of the bed, and she fell backwards. She laughingly pulled him down with her, hands gripping his shoulders.

James hovered over her, hands on either side of her head carefully holding his weight off her body. He was still wearing a goofy grin as he bent his head and left a trail of kisses along her jaw. "I love you Lily," he said, kissing the spot below her ear.

Lily giggled as his hot breath tickled the side of her neck and with her hands on either side of his face, she brought his mouth back to hers for another kiss. "I love you, too," she smiled at him when the pulled apart.

Beneath him, her stomach growled. "Hungry?" he asked, chuckling.

Lily laughed at her own expense and shrugged and nodded at the same time. "Kind of, I guess," she admitted.

"I can make you dinner," he said, rolling off of her and lying next to her, head turned to look at her.

"You can cook?" Lily asked, turning her head as well for her gaze to follow his face. Her eyebrows lifted in surprise.

James grinned sheepishly. "Well, no," he admitted. "I was thinking you could stay up here while I go downstairs and magically make a beautiful meal appear."

Lily laughed and rolled onto her side, lying close to James with her head in the crook between his shoulder and his chest. Her emerald eyes lingered on his face, smiling as she felt his arm curled around her small waist. "Still sounds good to me," she said, laying a lingering kiss upon his cheek. "Besides, I don't think the kitchen is exactly useable right now." She smiled.

"I can fix that with a bit of magic, too, you know," he waggled his eyebrows.

Stubbornly, Lily shook her head. "No, we are finishing it my way. You can't get out of it," she told him, setting her jaw in that way that made it clear that she was not going to change her mind.

James sighed. "Well, maybe doing it the muggle way isn't _so_ bad," he amended, kissing her temple at the same time he tightened his arm around her waist.

Lily laughed and pushed away from him, sitting up. "I told you so," she sang teasingly and she stood up, stretching her arms over her head.

James admired the curve of her back as she stretched for a moment, and then he too sat up on the end of the bed. He eventually stood and crossed the room to the dresser where he kept his clothes. He pulled out a pair of plaid boxer shorts and pulled them on, dropping the towel on the ground where it joined a small pile of his dirty clothes from the week before. Lily had given him a laundry hamper, but he just never remembered to throw them into it.

"I'll be downstairs," James said, watching as Lily went through the closet where she kept her clothes. "Anything specific you want me to make?" he asked.

"Spaghetti," Lily replied without looking away from the clothes.

James smiled at the quickness of her reply (he knew that spaghetti was her favourite meal) and left the room, heading downstairs to create a terribly romantic atmosphere in their living room (where the kitchen table currently resided until its more permanent home was finished) before getting to work on making Lily's spaghetti dinner appear.

Lily, meanwhile, pulled on a pair of fleece sleep shorts and a white tank top to lounge around it. She held onto her towel, and then walked across the room to pick up James' towel from the floor, and then she tossed both towels onto the bed. She'd spied James' pile of laundry and shook her head with a small smile.

"Ah, James," she sighed, bending to pick up the clothes he'd left there. She separated the pile according to what was still clean and what was actually dirty. She threw the dirty laundry into the hamper, and set to work folding the clean stuff. Clean clothes folded, she brought them to his dresser and began to put them away. Lily reached the drawer where he kept his jeans, and she pulled it open.

"How he finds anything in here, I'll never know," she muttered to herself, pushing badly folded pairs of trousers out of the way so that she could fit in the clean pairs.

Just as she was about to lower the jeans into the freshly cleared spot, she noticed something and stopped. "What is this," she mumbled, bending to pry a small black box from the drawer.

Lily balanced the jeans between one arm and her hip so as to free both her hands, and, curiosity getting the best of her, she pulled the box open with her fingertips. She couldn't stop the gasp that escaped her at the sight of the small diamond ring.

"Oh my gosh," she said, bringing the box closer to her face for a better inspection. It was beautiful; the diamond in the center and the small emeralds on either side made the ring one of the prettiest Lily had ever seen. And it was just her size.

"Oh my gosh," she said again as she realized what she was holding, and she quickly snapped the box shut. Heart pounding louder than it had been just a moment ago, Lily placed the box back into the drawer – careful to put it in the exact same spot it had just been in. She placed the clean jeans over it and closed the drawer straight away.

She wandered back over to the bed and sat down on the edge, eyes still lingering on the door where the ring box lay hidden under James' clothes. Just as she was wondering if that was what she thought it was, she heard footsteps on the stairs and then they started down the hall.

Lily got to her feet and met James at the door of the bedroom.

"Dinner is served," he announced pompously with a smile on his face.

Lily smiled back, trying to forget that she'd just spied what she'd spied in his drawer. "Already? That was fast," she told him, taking his hand in hers as they headed back downstairs.

"I'm a fast worker," James shrugged, squeezing her fingers. He led her to the living room, where he had, indeed, fixed a terribly romantic dinner area. There were candles in the center of the table, rose petals scattered across the table cloth, a bottle of wine in the center – two glasses already poured, one at either end of the table – and a plate of spaghetti at both place settings.

Lily smiled. "James," she said. "It's absolutely perfect. I ask for dinner and you give me this." She turned around so that she was standing in front of him, holding both his hands.

James shrugged. "You deserve the best," he told her, as if it were nothing.

Lily smiled and rose onto her tiptoes to kiss him. "I have the best," she said, and then she kissed him again. And though she had the most wonderful man in her arms and a beautiful dinner waiting right behind her, her mind lingered on the ring upstairs.

--

"I think James wants to ask me to marry him," Lily blurted out. Louise, Anna and Victoria all turned their heads to look at her wearing similar expressions of confusion and curiosity.

"What do you mean?" Louise said.

The girls were on their way home from work, taking the scenic route in order to spend more time together. With all the chaos that seemed to be ever growing around them, and all the work that they had piled onto their plates, quality time with friends unfortunately fell to the bottom.

"I was putting clothes away and I found a ring in his drawer. Unless he's got another girlfriend somewhere…" she trailed off, frowning.

Victoria squeezed her arm, which she had linked with her own. "Nonsense. James hasn't got another girlfriend anywhere."

"Well then, I assume the ring is for me." Lily said, nodding her head slowly.

"What's it look like?" Louise was quick to ask.

Lily grinned. "Small and cute with a diamond in the center and emeralds on either side. It's beautiful, Lou."

"Sounds like it," Louise agreed.

Victoria squealed and squeezed Lily's arm tighter. "Oh, Lily this is wonderful. You and James are finally going to be married," she beamed. "It has to be a perfect wedding. We'll be your bridesmaids of course – unless you're asking your ghastly sister? – anyway, we'll be your bridesmaids, and James will choose Sirius as best man. And there will be flowers – daisies, because they're your favourite and - "

Lily cut her off. "Vicky, he hasn't even asked me yet!" she laughed.

Victoria waved her hand. "Minor detail."

"This is so exciting, Lil," Louise exclaimed, rubbing her hands together.

"You're awful quiet, Anna," Victoria pointed out.

Anna looked up, cheeks a bit pink. "Am I? Sorry, lost in thought, I suppose," she said and her face quickly lit up with a smile. "It's absolutely wonderful that you and James are going to be engaged. We should have a party."

Lily laughed. "I think it's best we wait until he actually _asks_ me to start planning any kind of party." She said.

"Fine, we won't plan anything until he asks you. But you absolutely _must_ call us straight away when he does, understand?" Victoria said, looking very serious.

"Promise," Lily said.

"And make sure to act surprised when he asks you, eh," Anna said. "I bet he's nervous enough as it is. If you just sit there like a bump on a log, his nerves will be through the roof and he'll have a heart attack before you even get a chance to say yes."

"You will be saying yes, won't you?" Louise asked.

All three girls turned to look at their red-headed friend, who just stared silently back.

Would she?

Author's Note:

So this chapter was kind of a filler, just to get me back on track, to make sure I haven't lost my touch for writing (have I lost it?). I still like it, though. Let me know what you think of it, alright?

Xoxo, Cait.


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